I am a great believer in the new technology of e-books, giving every writer the chance to be seen and read without the waste of using paper and precious resources. For the more traditional reader I hope my books will also be available in paper form, as Print on Demand from Amazon.

It's amazing what can spark the imagination. My first novel sprang from a short story which, in turn, came from the words of a song I learnt as a Brownie Guider. If you don't know what that is, think Brown Owls and little girls running around in brown dresses. One day I might write about that but not yet. I won't bore you with the whole song (it's not the same if you can't sing it), but it asked if you were born with one what sort of tail would you like and suggested it would be fun to have a prehensile one.

Well, that got me thinking - what would it be like to be born with a tail? Where would it happen? How could it happen? What, why, when?

Edge of Extinction

​“Once I thought I was a god, but now I know I'm not and I am glad.” So said Kianda Mala.

When Hannah, a doctor working for a mining community in the Amazon, was asked to examine a native found roaming in the tunnels of a mine, she did not expect her life to change. She did not expect her skills as a doctor to be put to the test in the primitive environment of a jungle village. She did not expect to fall in love with a man who was considered to be a god by the people with whom he lived.

Kianda Mala emerged from the jungle to find out why his people were dying. What he found was a world beyond his understanding. A world where men tore what they wanted from the earth and dumped what was left in his valley regardless of the consequences. A world where his people were deemed dispensable – they were simple, primitive, of no worth.

Trapped by the rainy season Kianda won the respect and trust of Hannah and Jon, the mining engineer who found him, and they agreed to help his people. He impressed them with his insight into human nature and his skills as a hunter. Oh, and did I mention, he has a tail….

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The Penhaligan File

Steven MARK ANDREW Penhaligan uses his middle names when pursuing his career as an investigative journalist and novelist. Little did he ever suspect his use of a pen name would put his life in danger.He is the son of Amos Penhaligan, the man behind The Penhaligan Foundation, a leading pharmaceutical company, and has followed his own path as a journalist instead of joining his father at the Foundation.One day he is asked to look into a drug Paula McCarthy believes is responsible for causing the death of her husband. Much to Mark's concern the drug is made by The Penhaligan Foundation and his attempts to discover the truth behind the problem lead to dire consequences.

Shattered Dreams

Two love stories for the price of one!

As a teenager Tony Walker has his dreams destroyed in an horrific road accident. No longer able to be the sporting hero he once aspired to be he slowly comes to terms with his new life, helped by the one person who didn’t know him before his accident. Helped through depression and accepted for what he has become he finds love and happiness only to have it wrenched cruelly away…

As an adult he has found success in a career he enjoys, but holds back from committing himself to a serious relationship, not wanting to be hurt again. Then be meets Beth, only to discover that all he has suffered for the past 15 years has not been as it seemed. Can Beth help him?

Just a Head in a Bed

Liam Montgomery is an ordinary working lad who enjoyed his life. He worked hard, played hard and had a laugh with his mates. He never really thought about anything serious until the day his ‘little sister’ Stacey (not really so little, he just hadn’t noticed her growing up), ran away from home with someone he had brought into the family. The guilt of that introduction increased when Stacey was dumped at a hospital in a drug induced coma.

Liam’s whole life is turned upside down. Driven by revenge but not really knowing how to carry it out, he seeks out the old boyfriend. Meanwhile, his father dies, he meets a woman he actually wants to be with, and he finally finds out what had really happened to Stacey.

Silent Love

Silent Love is the story of David, born profoundly deaf to a mother who had difficulty coping with his deafness.Told in a similar fashion to Shattered Dreams this book mixes David's childhood with the present day where he meets Sara who treats him just like any other person.

Sara has her own problems to deal with, not least a work colleague who thinks she should be his partner.

Working together at an animal sanctuary David and Sara fall in love and with Sara's help and support David finds the confidence in himself he has always lacked in the past, but still one fear overshadows his love. It is no secret that his fear is groundless as this is revealed in the very first paragraph. This book is all about how David and Sara reached that point.

If The World Hadn't Changed...​is a look at how life might be now if all the social changes of the 20th century hadn't happened. No rise in socialism, no universal suffrage - did you know working men didn't get the vote until 1918 let alone women! - no health service, no unions protecting workers' rights to a fair wage and safe working environment.

This book centres around the Martha and Bill Smith and tells what happens to each of their children. Billy the eldest who went off to join the army and was having a good time until he was injured. Mary, a bright girl who was moving up in the world just a little, with an office job in the cotton mill where her mother works, that is until she meets Pete. Bobby did have an apprenticeship until the tales his older brother told him prompts him to join the army as a trainee engineer. Annie would love to be a teacher but the likes of her don't get to stay on at school to train for such things, instead she has to work as a maid where she has to fight off the attentions of one member of the family she serves only to be compromised by another. That leaves Cathy, the youngest of the family, suffering from a terrible cough the family cannot afford to treat.

And while the mother, Martha, is coping with keeping the family solvent, Bill is leading a campaign for better conditions at the foundry where he works.

Prompted by a comment that life was better 100 years ago this story is set in the present yet takes you back in time because the world hasn't changed.​

Short Stories

As well as novels I have written a few short stories. From time to time I will upload these to the site for visitors to read. Some of my short stories have been turned into novels, or are in the process of becoming novels so are no longer on the short story page. Others are. Enjoy.